1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system and method for providing advertising about products and services over data networks.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Networks carry three types of information: voice, video, and data. Historically, these different forms of information have been transported over different networks. Specifically, the public switched telephone network (PSTN) delivered voice information; private corporate networks delivered data information; and broadcast networks delivered video information. Each service was provided by a specific form of infrastructure—the PSTN used copper wires to reach subscribers, broadcast television used the airwaves, cable television used coaxial cable, and so forth.
With advances in technology, the different forms of information can now be carried by any delivery platform. For example, telephony services (i.e., voice and facsimile) can be transported over packet-switched networks, such as the Internet.
“Internet telephony” refers to the transfer of voice information using the Internet protocol (IP) of the TCP/IP or UDP/IP protocol suite. Internet telephony uses the Internet to simulate a telephone connection between two Internet users and to bypass the local exchange carriers' and inter-exchange carrier's telephone networks. Internet telephony works by converting voices into data that can be compressed and split into packets. These data packets are sent over the Internet like any other packets and reassembled as audio output at the receiving end. The ubiquitous nature of the Internet allows a user to complete such Internet telephone connections to many countries around the world. Accordingly, by using the Internet to provide telephony services, the user can avoid paying per-minute toll charges assessed by the user's local exchange carrier and/or inter-exchange carrier. Rather, the user is subject to only his or her local Internet connection fees. The result may be considerable savings when compared to international telephone rates.
When conducting an Internet telephone call, most existing dial-up systems require both parties to be connected to the Internet through a multimedia personal computer. During the connection time, conventional on-line advertisement systems provide connected users with web advertisement, typically graphical images or banners which display on and/or scroll across the computer screen while the user visits or browses a web site. However, this type of on-line advertising is limited since the user must be using a multimedia personal computer to access the on-line system, and such multimedia personal computers are expensive and difficult to set up and maintain. Further, conventional on-line advertisements are visual (e.g., graphical images or banners) and do not include audio content. In addition, much of the on-line advertisement does not specifically target those consumers most likely to use the product or service being offered. Therefore, a tremendous amount of web advertising is wasted on promoting goods or services to an improper audience.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system and method for providing on-line advertising and information that addresses the drawbacks of known systems.